PM reassures bosses over vaccination liability

Employers would be protected from legal action if they did not mandate vaccinations for workers under a national cabinet plan.

The Prime Minister said state and territory governments would use workplace laws to shield businesses from legal exposure if they did not impose mandatory vaccines. .Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Employers would be protected from legal action if they did not mandate vaccinations for workers under a national cabinet plan Scott Morrison said would not force Australians to be jabbed.

After another record day of vaccinations across the country on Friday, the Prime Minister said state and territory governments would use workplace laws to shield businesses from legal exposure if they did not impose mandatory vaccines for employees.

Under current arrangements endorsed by the national cabinet, aged-care and quarantine workers are the only people in the country who must be vaccinated.

The Weekend Australian understands any need that arises to impose mandatory vaccines for ­industries would be based on ­advice from chief health officers via public health orders.

“We think everybody should get vaccinated. That’s the public health advice. Whether you’re a teacher, whether you’re a construction worker, whether you’re a journalist, whether you’re a politician, whether you drive a bus, we think Australians should get vaccinated,” Mr Morrison said. “But we don’t think we should make it mandatory in Australia.”

Facing political pressures over any move to mandate vaccines, he said if governments’ health advisers advocated for a specific industry to have a mandatory program they “would take that action”.

The ACTU and the Business Council of Australia on Friday jointly opposed individual employers being able to unilaterally impose a mandatory vaccination policy.

“Employers and unions recognise that for a small number of high-risk workplaces there may be a need for all workers in a workplace to be vaccinated to protect community health and safety,” they said. “These are serious decisions that should not be left to individual employers and should only be made following public health advice based on risk and medical evidence.

“The ACTU and the BCA call on governments and the national cabinet to support this position and ensure that where mandatory vaccination requirements are necessary, they are implemented through the use of nationally consistent public health orders.”

New guidance from the Fair Work Ombudsman about workplace vaccinations received a mixed response from employers and lawyers, with some industry figures saying it helped give a ­degree of legal certainty while ­resources employers said it created more confusion.

Mr Morrison said the national cabinet had discussed protections for employers in the case where a vaccinated worker brings action against them if they fall ill.

“Through their (states and territories) workplace health and safety regulators, they can take ­action to prevent that situation. So, the small-business owner may feel under no compulsion to put a mandatory vaccination program in place,” he said.

Mr Morrison said while employers should encourage workers to get vaccinated, there would be no requirement to mandate vaccines outside of “very specific circumstances”.

“What we discussed was the challenge faced by a business who fears that they may be subject to an action from an employee who may become ill as a result of Covid and may seek to bring an action against that employer on the basis that they did not put a mandatory requirement on that workplace,” he said.

“The advice that I have ­received is that workplace, health and safety regulators in the states can provide a statement of regulation intent that a business that does not mandate is not in breach of workplace health and safety laws.”